Tag Archives: Fort Myers

Still reeling from Ian, Florida shrimpers are desperate to get back on the water

November 8, 2022   Gulf of Mexico

Jimmy Driggers, 85, got into the fishing business when he was just 13 years old. He’s a shrimper in Fort Myers, Fla. “I was a mullet fisherman, [a] commercial fisherman in my younger days,” he said. Driggers walks with a prosthetic leg from an injury he sustained on his boat about a decade ago. It’s decorated with a sea lighthouse. He owns one shrimping boat the F/V Miz Shirley named after his wife. It can carry 50,000 pounds of shrimp. Driggers said the industry has been hurting for decades, and that he was paid more back in the 1980’s than he is today. Fuel prices have skyrocketed. Then came Hurricane Ian. It pushed The Miz Shirley half onto a seawall and half was left in the water –- unusable. >click to read< 07:28

Comment

Rebuild Fort Myers Beach Shrimp Industry – A fundraiser by Anna Erickson

October 25, 2022   Gulf of Mexico
Hi, we’re here with Erickson & Jensen. Looking for initial funds to rebuild the shrimp industry. The issues is that it’s not only a business but a community. Rebuilding includes getting the shrimp boats back in the water, fixing the docks, rebuilding the supply shop, repair the unloading area most of all restoring humanity within our shrimp family. >Click to read<, and please donate if you can. Thank you. 11:32
Comment

Hurricane Ian Ravages Family Fishing Business Just Before Crab Season

October 3, 2022   Gulf of Mexico, National

Off the Hook Fishing Fleet has been in Michael McPhillips’ family for three generations, but Hurricane Ian has left the Fort Myers business in shambles. “Words can’t describe what happened here, McPhillips said. Though stone crab fishing runs in his blood, McPhillips says family-owned commercial fishing businesses are hard to come by. It’s why he tied down and braced for impact as Hurricane Ian barreled into Fort Myers. His mom Denise says she begged her son to stay home.  “This is our livelihood,” Michael McPhillips said. “This is all we got. Without this, you don’t have anything. That’s why I was trying to save the boats.” Denise McPhillips says they don’t have insurance. Video, >click to read< 14:00

Comment

Copeland man accused in his father’s death aboard a fishing boat in March sentenced

September 16, 2019   Gulf of Mexico

A Copeland man accused in his father’s death aboard a fishing boat in March was sentenced to just fewer than 10 years in prison at the federal courthouse in Fort Myers on Monday. Casey Hickok, 32, originally faced a second-degree murder charge and was accused of bludgeoning the sleeping Robert Hickok, 54 of Copeland, to death with an alternator aboard the fishing boat No Bitchin’ on March 18.  >click to read< 14:07

Comment

Local fisherman, FGCU student finds message in a bottle at sea, collects $10,000 diamond

March 22, 2018   Gulf of Mexico

One month after jeweler Mark Loren dropped three messages in a bottle from a helicopter into the Gulf of Mexico, a local fisherman has claimed the first prize. Wesley Skinner, 22, a commercial fisherman and senior at Florida Gulf Coast University, spotted the light green glass bottle floating at sea, about 30 miles offshore northwest of Sanibel Island. The water was extremely calm that day, Skinner recalled, and after seeing an object bobbing in the water, asked the captain turn around so he could take a closer look. He didn’t immediately uncork the bottle, though,,, >click to read<18:22

Comment